Bam!
Suddenly, the doors burst open, with a silhouette projecting onto the walls of the room, accompanied by a voice.
“Kekeke, Baster and Bistress, your servant is here!” Belial entered the house with a loud sound, his white-stripped pupils turning towards the center of the room, observing the four people inside.
“Tch, should I eat those two insects?” Belial licked his lips, a grin forming as he observed the girl slowly rising from her seat.
‘N-no, is it a real d-demon?’ Mae’s eyes trembled as she looked at the boy with red skin and small black horns standing in front of her, her mind suddenly filling with a surge of memories.
“Heh, Hey Dariant Tras—SWISH!” Belial attempted to speak, but before he could, a sudden blackout in his vision caused him to swiftly bring his hands in front. However, the force covering his face was far stronger.
THUD
“Bbbbaaass—BAM!”
“Sam!, bring the energy blaster now, this thing will sell at a huge cost in the black market,” Mae exclaimed, grabbing a black cloth around Belial’s face, her legs wrapped around his body as they both fell to the floor. Her hands stretched the cloth tightly covering the face of the demon, whose hands were folded and tied inside.
“….Fine, I am coming,” Sam slowly stood from his seat, rubbing his mouth tightly to remove the remaining taste of bread and boiled vegetables. His eyes lazily turned towards his sister, hands moving beside his waist.
Tick
“Baassss—?!” Before Belial could curse again, he heard the sound of a mechanism triggering, specifically the energy blaster placed at his forehead.
“Wait, wait, don’t break his horns, they are worth 10 Golden coins each; aim for the middle part,” Mae abruptly shook her body to adjust Belial’s head, ensuring Sam didn’t harm her valuable horns.
Zwwwoooo
“Fine,” Sam lazily replied, the blaster in his hand charging to shoot a shot, a blue glow surrounding it.
‘…..’, Ryuk looked at everything with a blank gaze, glancing towards Esme, who averted her eyes, finding the whole thing embarrassing but remaining silent.
[Are you not going to save that demon, Host?]
“Hey kids, enough. You can sell its body when I am done with its soul,” Ryuk moved towards the trio entangled in a completely different posture, which wasn’t appreciable in the least.
[As expected of you, Host.]
“Hm… Big bro, but I will charge rent until then?” Mae looked at the young man with amber eyes approaching her, proposing a deal to hand over the prey she just captured to him at the cost of some daily charges, with hidden terms and conditions applying.
“….How much?” Ryuk couldn’t argue with her since he needed her help in the future, also noticing Esme sitting in her place, eating without caring about the scamming happening here.
“7 coins daily with three meals a day. You can’t starve me on our journey,” Mae stated directly, her approach toward mutual benefit evident in her offer.
‘She is smart.’ Hearing her words, Ryuk felt satisfied, knowing he would indeed need to feed them when they left this place. The twins didn’t yet know their value, making Mae ensure a mutual transaction—showing her sharp mind.
“But I’ll give you all the coins at once for a year, not daily. What do you say?” Ryuk proposed, placing his hand on Sam’s shoulder, eliciting a reciprocated action as Sam placed his hand on Ryuk’s hand too.
“Very good! That will be 3,000 coins. Will you pay it now?” Mae proposed, her hands holding the demon so tightly that even with its strength, there wasn’t a single opening for it to escape her tight clutches.
Of course, Belial had exhausted all its energy, but on its way here, the monsters and demons it had encountered were devoured and converted into energy.
Yet, with all its strength, Belial was helpless—a testament to the physical strength Dariant possessed.
“And where did those 445 coins come from?” Ryuk didn’t doubt Mae’s calculation capabilities after living with her for these past few months, making him inquire about the reason for her asking for such a large amount.
“2,555 coins for 365 days at 7 coins per day, and 445 coins for a security deposit in case this thing dies due to starvation,” Mae explained, peeking at the demon wrapped in her hand, completely helpless.
“Starvation?” Ryuk sighed, realizing the food requested three times a day was for both twins, not the demon. He turned and approached Esme, who seemed to be struggling to control her laughter.
“Belial, enough of jokes, come here,” Ryuk commanded, while folding his hands, amber eyes fixed infront, waiting for demon’s reply.
Silence~
‘….’ Until now, Ryuk indeed thought the demon was acting by getting subdued this easily, but seeing how there wasn’t any sound, he realised the severity of the situation as he ordered again, “Mae, let it go.”
“Fine—SWISH!” The moment Mae loosened her hand, the demon instantly vanished, appearing in front of the young man seated on the sofa.
“Haaa….Haaa, dabn Bonstress,” Gasping for breath, Belial’s hand on his chest, tears in his eyes as he glanced at Mae, who was folding the cloth in her hand and placing it in her pocket.
“Shut up, Belial. Tell me about the Demon Queen,” Ryuk cut to the chase, skipping the pleasantries and inquiring about the information regarding the Demon Queen.
“…Which one?” Belial, knowing the consequences if it ignored the young man’s words, ignored its own gasping for breath and focused on Ryuk’s words, rubbing its neck.
“Are there many queens?” Ryuk’s eyes glanced towards Belial, contemplating the reason behind his words.
“Exactly. The Debon Continent is not under just a single queen; there are exactly seventeen queens,” Belial informed, eyeing the girl who had just attacked it moments ago, feeling the desire to teach her a lesson but restraining itself due to sensing her sharp intent.
‘Seventeen Queens?’ Ryuk narrowed his gaze, looking down, unconcerned about the energy movement around the demon’s fingertip, already aware of the sharp intent emanating from Esme’s body.
“Tell me about Morana,” Ryuk inquired with the exact name, turning towards the demon boy beside him, who stood wearing short blue pants with straps on a white-striped shirt.
“Borana? Isn’t she the banished one?” Belial’s eyes turned towards the table where the food was placed, stretching its hand to take the burned bread and boiled vegetables before eating.
“But isn’t she at the Ascendancy Rank?” Ryuk referred to the information he had obtained from the system.
“She is indeed at that rank, but what can a lone slave do when stuck in the wilderness surrounded by Sanctub’s lands,” Belial revealed, satisfied with the taste of the dish he had just eaten, his eyes glancing at Ryuk.
“Sanctum?” Ryuk heard this name for the first time, making him inquire, slightly confused. The way Belial presented the information made it seem like the Demon Queen was trapped in her own land, surrounded by some opposing force.
“Yes, those holy energy bastards, with their four self-proclaibed cults ruled by four different religions, one of which keeps a check on Borana,” Belial explained about the existence of an entire expanse belonging to a particular religion that uses divine energy opposite to demonic energy.
“What exactly is the matter with Morana’s case?” Ryuk understood that much more lay behind the situation than Belial could fully explain, but the most he could do was grasp the vague outline.
“So, the story goes like this…”
Belial started to explain the situation of Demon Queen Morana:
After the battle between Sanctum and the demons a thousand years ago, the Demonic continent was shattered into several broken parts.
Originally, there were two vast expanses covering land far larger than Heindal, Ardoros, and Titanora combined—ten times the size of all these—which were under demon rule.
But after the war, the entire land was split apart.
Several noble lineage demons remaining decided to rule their lands with new laws instead of the old ones, which led to the demons’ significant defeat due to their lack of strategic approach, civil wars, and various other factors contributing to their downfall.
One of these expanses separated into seventeen huge land masses, referred to as ‘continents,’ but not all were strong enough to maintain power. Among them was Malevolia, whose king at the time had two daughters. An heir battle ensued, resulting in betrayal and backstabbing.
The betrayed daughter somehow escaped into Titanora, causing disease outbreaks and providing Belial a fertile ground to thrive.
“I see. What happened to the betrayed one then?” Ryuk’s gaze shifted to Belial, who was seated on the floor cross-legged, awaiting the answer.
“Ah, didn’t I tell you? Borana was given a land surrounded by those bastards,” Belial reminded, feeling dizzy due to the energy loss backed up from monsters.
“So, Morana is that betrayed demoness,” Ryuk recalled the name, realizing that the woman who was betrayed was none other than the host of the Void Matrix system. His eyes glanced at Esme, who remained oblivious to these revelations.
However, her golden pupils met with his Amber ones, sharing a mutual understanding that brought a small smile to his face. He then turned his eyes towards Belial before remembering something and inquiring, “And what about the people surrounding Demon Morana’s continent?”
Ryuk could only conclude from all this that they were the opposite of demons, belonging to some religion and saints.
Belial, upon hearing his words, replied before suddenly feeling dizzy and falling asleep with it’s last words, “Those bastards are frob Fela’s religion—thud… BZzzz-zzzz.”
sorry for mistakes, I will correct them if their is any after sometime
